faderift | [open] exploration, study, and practice

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[open] exploration, study, and practice

WHO: Waver + Open
WHAT: Mucking about
WHEN: Month of Drakonis, contemporary timeline
WHERE: In and around Skyhold
NOTES: None

i. Woods around Skyhold
Months ago, Iskandar had talked to Waver about wanting to build a small place for himself in the area. While Waver had had concerns, like the shards, he also wasn't going to argue with having a little bit more private space. And so with melting snows and the promise of spring that came with longer days, he set out into the forests.

He was methodical as he went, relying on horseback to get to whatever area he wanted to focus on on a given day, and then spending hours on foot making notes on natural clearings, where snow naturally drifted, and where it seemed as if there were heavier animal tracks for the sake of hunting.

Waver didn't enjoy the wind and the cold, but he enjoyed the quiet around him, the challenge before him, and the fact that he was actually working outdoors without wheezing and panting like he might have been a few months ago. For better or for worse, Thedas forced him towards the physical, whereas his life in London had only been academic. Or else it was Iskandar making him do the same.

His work and his thoughts are coupled with keen ears that listen for anyone who might be approaching. Animals, he expects, and hopefully none of them predators.

ii. Library
With Merrill having approved of his general approach of creating course schedules for the Skyhold classrooms, Waver was now tweaking what he had come up with. He wanted to build in a break week at the end of every cycle, both for courses to catch up or for people to take missions, and besides, some complimentary course timings were an issue.

So he sat at a long table in the library, parchment cut into squares in one pile and a drawn up calendar in front of him. As he worked, each class was placed on the calendar, and the squares arranged then rearranged as he tried to find something that would be as close to ideal as possible.

There were mutterings of fuck every so often that snaked down the shelves, coupled with that won't work or else ugh.

But it kept him busy, and he loved the puzzle of it all. And as he worked, there was a pleased smile on his face, one that wouldn't go away even if interrupted.

iii. Training
In asking Iskandar what might be the best weapon for him to learn given that magic might not always be available to him, Waver had been told that knives would be an excellent option. And while most of that learning was done away from prying eyes, there was always the need to practice.

Today, Waver did that in a corner of one of the grounds within the fortress, taking advantage ofa dummy left aside by someone else who forgot to put the thing into proper equipment storage. The daylight was fading, and the area looked as if it would see no traffic.

His movements were faster than they were when he and Iskandar had started out. But with the two little practice knives Waver had, he did nothing but miss mark after mark. The issue he knew was that he was now working with a skinny little dummy, rather than a man who was as big as a house.

He gave it several more attempts before muttering, "Goddamnit."

That one knife also went flying from his hand escaped Waver's notice for a moment. When he realized his left hand had nothing in it, he then immediately let out another swear before starting a search. "Where did that thing go--"

iv. Wildcard
For anything not covered above

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"We came from the sea, where I come from." Her heart longs for it, even if she has come to make a terrible sort of peace with being up in these mountains so far from it, so long as she might spend her birthday by the salt air at the very least. "The histories we can say are fairly accurate and well-recorded from the founding of the Chantry; all of us are prone to error but that gives us the standard Ages for Thedas, dates and so on. Going further back is what makes it more difficult.

"I cannot say what stopped them. They do not lack for the ability to build ships, and with their magic and discussions I've had with Korrin, it should give them some things we had to overcome with different methods. Even the Qunari...the timing doesn't match up if they were afraid of that. There are pirates in Thedas, the Raiders of the Waking Sea or the Felicisima Armada but there are obviously other routes to take." Looking up from the map to Waver, she shakes her head, trying to get rid of the confused frown on her face because it doesn't make sense to her, not at all. "Thedas is very focussed within itself. It could be just that. I will be sad but unsurprised if it is that."

Always looking to their own borders, to themselves? Orlais was proof of many things for her so she wouldn't be hugely surprised if that's what's managed to keep them bound to these shores all these centuries.

"What other methods do you have? It must be so freeing in so many ways - so many times I have worried about a friend or a contact I rely upon, where you have to go through so many people in different ways to pass a message. If you can just--" She doesn't know what to do to illustrate her point exactly so she waves her hands slightly, trying to convey something of just doing it. Something that would free them up. Even the sending crystals had been so strange and impossible, more is nearly too much.

"There are ways to date and explore the composition of the land prior to any written records back home," Waver murmured. Geology and archaeology sprang to mind, but one was hard without the appropriate advances in technology within the boundaries of Thedas, and the other was hard to do without enough context of the history and cultures of Thedas. "But they aren't viable unless you feel like finding some ruins and go tromping about in them."

Waver's lips thinned. The lack of sea culture was truly bizarre, and perhaps there was some deeper, older fear of sea exploration that was never articulated. "That level of self absorption does sound par for the course." He looked around, hoping that wasn't overheard. Satisfied that no one reacted, Waver nodded, pleased enough. "The worst part of me does dread what would happen if there were new cultures that the people here hadn't made contact with though. Things here are already chaotic. Adding an entire new people could be--" he mimed the gesture of an explosion. Definite bad news.

"Well, the older, more traditional way. Mailing letters and such, but those methods are faster as well. You can drop a letter into a specialized box, and there's a dedicated national service that gets your correspondence there within maybe two or three days," he continued. "But that's really the other major one. Older pieces of technology that were common have long since fallen away."

"Honestly if there are a people who might have methods such as that in Thedas, it would be the Qunari but the Qunari are very unlikely to share with the rest of us. For many reasons." The Qunari in general are a subject Thedas always seems to like to keep well away from them unless it's to bring up heathen oxmen or something like that, and she understands why people like Korrin have good reason to feel that way, or any mage who fears restrictions tighter than the Circles. It doesn't change that the Qun seems to have things that the rest of Thedas doesn't and that the other thing they don't have is a much tighter restriction on magic.

As much of an outsider as she is, Araceli knows when to notice things and keep her mouth firmly shut until she is entirely sure about the company. "Thedas does have plentiful ruins, Ellana Ashara, a friend of mine has gone to more than one very recently. Elven but many of the oldest ruins in Thedas are. She would be a good place to start I think."

Hopefully Ellana won't mind if Waver does head her way, if she does, Araceli can always make it up to her.

"There are the tales of the cetus, this sea monster but we have leviathans and other beasts where I am from and we learned how to sail alongside them and that's without the aid of magic. Thedas has Blights and wars, it looks inward to rebuild, to expand territory, to alliances or whatever else might be done around their neighbours. Perhaps they are afraid to think beyond." Perhaps they've been taught not to for so long that it's become such a part of them that they don't even think about it now and she has to look away to the table, closing the map because it feels like it's mocking her just by sitting there, so small, so pathetic. She smiles suddenly, the bard mask up because she's practiced, teasing and almost coy. "You could say that rifters are new cultures, no? I was in the first group to arrive, it has not been as it is now. We were branded demons, I was even called one to my face. We're friends now."

Araceli hasn't counted herself as a rifter in a long time now, not since she understood what would be best for her; assimilate into the Inquisition, make herself useful, find a true place to belong. Yet here is always the heart of it: there is a mark on her hand, this is not the world she belongs to and so she will always be a rifter and what one of them does reflects on them all, and perhaps having been here as long as she has or what she does as a bard and before in her home? It makes her too aware. There are always so many eyes. Not all of them are kind. But there are always eyes, always watching, and they all have mouths and hands to report with.

"Honestly, I don't think I blame them," Waver admitted. Thedas' history had taught him quite a bit, and it was mostly that the elves got the shit end of the stick, and the qunari didn't seem to do much better. Neither did mages. Neither did-- well. Never mind. That was a long list to contemplate another day.

"Hm. I'd say that such an exploration group would need a team, including a pretty solid historian. I do wonder if magic in Thedas could replicate some techniques technology accomplishes back home, but that's likely a stretch." Magic being as monitored as it was, Waver doubted magical carbon dating was going to be possible. "I'd only be good at digging stuff up and making hmmm noises at it." And maybe mapping.

The idea of rifters as a form of exploration was interesting, but Waver frowned as he ran it over in his head. Perhaps he was failing to appreciate the perspective because he was evaluating it against Earth history, but something didn't sit right about the comparison. He hated not being able to articulate why.

"But that's a painfully recent development," he said finally, hitting upon the issue. "It doesn't account for centuries of stasis like the Blights and other events do." There. That was better. "Although you've pointed out that we've probably gotten the fastest turn around time from problems to friends in Thedas' history."

"The Qunari do not believe in freedom. You are given a place, a role. If you are a mage you are not even a person. The word for it translates to 'dangerous thing' and they are masked with their mouths stitched shut that they might never speak to a demon and given a handler. Qunari flee the Qun to seek a new life for themselves, a life that they've chosen. Korrin's family did that." Freedom has always been everything to Araceli and the idea of not being able to choose what she wants to do, to having a life planned out for her start to finish so that everything is fixed? What spark would she have? She's aware of limits and restrictions in her life but she can still make choices; turn left, turn right, double back.

Considering some of the places the Inquisition goes? It wouldn't hurt. "Most historians are from the Chantry. The Chantry has a way of viewing things and who would say no to an extra set of hands? If you don't mind some of the places they go." Wild animals, the undead, Darkspawn, demons, extreme conditions from freezing cold to festering bogs to intense heat - the Inquisition - you'll go far.

"Are they?" 'They' not 'we'. Deliberate on her part though light enough to pose it as a question. "The Inquisition is for all but the Inquisition is not Thedas and even within the Inquisition there are differences of opinion. In Skyhold everyone is far away from the rest of the world unless heading out into the field or the towns and cities, it isn't the same as living with it." Araceli's been fortunate enough with her experiences elsewhere until her kidnap but she remembers being warned when she started her bard training how they might look at her, what they might want, some of the questions she's already been asked while she has to smile politely as if nothing touches her at all.

"Reasonable response to that environment, I think," Waver murmured darkly. He had never asked Korrin for much clarification of how she had came to Skyhold, and now he was confident in that decision. That kind of thing was personal, and in his opinion, information to be volunteered. Of course it also went to show that mages were still on the shit end of the stick, but that seemed to just be a reoccuring theme at this point. "And not an easy decision to make either."

Leaving everything in one's culture behind was a lot to do. But then again, that speaks volumes about the intolerableness of the situation. "Hm. I have been to some strange enough places in my time, but this all seems like the set up for a particular story back home." Did Thedas have a lost ark?

"Hm. Good point. People here are already more likely to be open and tolerant, it is a biased representation of Thedas citizens. Being remote and isolated doesn't help either." But it felt like something positive, at least. Better than a lot of other things.

The time Araceli went off to Rivain? She kept herself far from the Qunari settlement there, unwilling to risk it. The natives had prodded and poked, comfortable enough with spirit mages and a girl that could pass herself off as a slightly odd Antivan if she chose to but it had been a shadow looming over more than a few she'd spoken with. The mages who had come with her had been almost as afraid of the idea of them as the Templars that had slaughtered and tortured them.

"Likely you have been further than many have here before they ever joined the Inquisition. I get the feeling that this is not a world that lends itself to travel, or at least not so easily as elsewhere. Stories are a foundation for a great many things, they took me somewhere that allowed me to help in a way that was unexpected." It's an offer if he wants it, but if not she can drop it, she's learned far more than she thought she would already.

"The Inquisition was reeling after Haven's destruction but this is a terrible place for getting fresh supplies, especially goods that spoil easily. Magic can only do so much and not everyone can or will travel with mages and that adds to the burden and the expense, of course that in turn is passed on to all of us." A consequence of spending so much time in the markets and around the docks as she did growing up, as well as having a pirate for a father or living in a building of hungry people - she knows how much it costs to fill bellies and in Skyhold it must be staggering. Then there's the mounts, the hounds, clothing them, heating the place, the ravens, on and on and on it goes. The Inquisition has greater support than it had but up here in the mountains there are practicalities to be looked to beyond safety from their enemy. "People carry tales back from Skyhold, rarely do those in the Inquisition ascertain what those tales are for themselves so that they might be lived day by day. The mages have their freedom for the moment, what good is it doing them when they are here and not somewhere that they might be seen to be living the same as all other folk."

"You'r correct on that front. But travel is incredibly easy in my own time and place, although I believe Kirk has me beat." Space travel was still in its infancy. But no matter. "But may I ask you to elaborate on that point?" Stories always had power, but how they were being used intrigued him.

As for mage freedom though, Waver had to admit, it felt like the answer had already been given. "Stories have power. If any stories from Skyhold include the general freedom of mages here, then that is disseminated into the larger consciousness. It is the first step of many to greater integration. What's here is like--" he paused, before the right word smacked Waver upside the head. "An incubator. The conditions here are warm and safe for a fledgling concept to grow and become stronger before heading out into the wider world. It also helps build a support network in case of when they do go out and be seen, old biases remain."

"James? Sí, I can barely imagine being able to travel as he does. My own story is small but I will tell it; I am a student of the Nightingale, or Leliana if you know her by that name too, one of the advisors to the Inquisition. She knew so little of me when she agreed to teach me the ways of being a bard so I wrote her the creation story of my world in a letter that she might understand who I am, where I come from. That tale means so much to my people. It has shaped us in so many ways." Nearly all of Araceli's tattoos reflect the sea and another that sits above her heart holds the moon and waves. The ache when she speaks is a good ache, or so she tells herself. "When a letter back came for me, it said I might enjoy the stories of Rivain and there is precious little recorded of Rivain worth knowing that isn't in Rivain itself so I was granted the opportunity to go there. To study, mostly. I spoke well of the Inquisition with the sailors too - sailors talk, I hope my words hit the mark.

"In Rivain I learned of mages who were in trouble after an annulment long ago in their Circle at Dairsmuid. Templars hunted them and those who had sheltered them, so I arranged to have others from Skyhold meet me to bring them here for their safety. We ended up having to rescue them from the Templars after an ambush. It wasn't how I ever imagined writing of the sea and the moon to Nightingale going." There's a lot she's left out of the story but she tells it proudly with a smile because there was so much good that came of it, people rescued and new friends made who have a new life for themselves. Next time she gets to go to Rivain though, Araceli hopes it'll be for something with less blood and death, a chance to explore a place that reminds her of home, somewhere with a culture that left such an impression on her.

It takes a little while to parse the word just right, always a hazard when Araceli needs to make sure it makes sense when in her own tongue too but she considers the idea. "Perhaps it's the thief in me or my father talking, always having to have more than one plan, as many routes as possible. You never know when a guard will turn around again or a sudden storm will blow in. One wrong move, one slip and perhaps all we have accomplished here unravels entirely - each time there is a party or a soiree? I have my heart in my mouth the whole night."

He listened very quietly as Araceli spoke. There was no interjections of mm or mmhmm, only a very occasional head nod to show that Waver was engaged with the story and, indeed, quite intrigued by all of it. There was no doubt in his mind that there was material left out, but even so, it didn't matter. It had so much going on, what with recording oral histories, dealing with the matters of mages in the current environment, and just a hint of spreading the word about the Inquisition that it was more than enough on a fist listen.

"That's," Waver began, when the tale came to a close. "That's a lot to pack into one trip." A little smile flicked across his face, but it didn't linger. "Do you intend to go back to Rivain at any point?"

"No, that's the person who knows how politics work and how easy it is to upset a delicate balance," Waver said. It wasn't a correction, more a confirmation that such a thought was pretty much the best one to have in response to something that in theory sounded so lofty and secure. "Which speaks to a sound strategic mind."

In Waver's opinion, that was a compliment.

"More than I had bargained for, when I finally returned to Skyhold that was when I could truly sit down and think about it all. After we had the Rivaini mages settled." That's leaving out how they'd had time to contact a Dalish clan, everyone getting to do some exploring, having a little time to relax before the ship was ready to depart where people got to see the Inquisition - mages, Templars, rifters, a Dalish elf, so many different people in all, out in the wider world doing more than whatever rumour said they did. Oh and she made two men named Malcolm duel each other to decide who could truly be called Malcolm. (And because the Inquisition is sorely lacking in duels.)

"If I could settle somewhere in Thedas, it would be Rivain. Somewhere near the sea to let me go to Antiva whenever I pleased but having this," she raises her left hand with a sigh. "It limits options for us, or so it has been noticed before."

She'd been starting to hurt by the time a few others had shown up in Dairsmuid.

Favouring Waver with a look that's more guarded, she considers how to reply to that. Maybe it's too long being comfortable with her secret and so many knowing her that it's just caught her offguard but she flinches. Or close to it. A twitch of the mouth, the way her eyes dart so sharply his way. "The Nightingale would be happy to hear such a thing, as would my mother and father were they here too so that they could sit smugly and sayy that all the lessons of my childhood were worth it, even when I would try to climb out the windows or up rigging to escape."

"The time to process things doesn't exist in the midst of action," Waver agreed. After the Grail War, it had taken years to fully take in the scope of what he had done and experienced. At the time, everything had happened too fast to remotely register the threats to his life, the things scene, and the emotional weight of it all. "Although I now realize, I don't know how many years it is that you've been here. Is that too forward a question?"

Less forward than some questions, but still. "I'm trying to figure out if anyone has written about why these damn things act like a leash to this place. I can't think of a logical reason for that to be the case."

"Ah, but trying to escape requires some level of strategy and planning in and of itself," Waver pointed out . He then registered the look he was getting and paused. "Sorry, did I say something wrong?"

"It's...Drakonis now, I arrived at the end of Harvestmere," she murmurs that quietly to herself as she works it back in her head because she doesn't like to think about it precisely though she probably could, if asked, work it out quicker. Had once been able to tell you the number of days. "Almost eighteen months. Give or take. I have to add in the confusion of it being summer where I was and it being much later in the season here when I arrived. And you?"

"Someone told me once, many many months ago something that made sense; it only took the Herald to seal rifts but it takes several of us." Normally able to recall a face or clothes, how they hold themselves, Araceli finds her mind slipping past the details. "There are more pieces of the mark and that the song is scattered that's all I can recall." That more doesn't surface troubles her even months later.

It doesn't help with her trying to wave away the subject, wondering if she'd slipped and if so where. Had she become too comfortable? "No. It isn't a thing I hear a person say about me but most of my friends do not care for politics in the first place. Others think you're too ignorant just from a glance." People see what they want to see, it works plenty of ways.

"Not even six months," Waver said. He had kept count, because so much of him was conflicted about being away. Beyond anyone else there was his apprentice-bodyguard-whatever-other-role-she-decided-on, Gray, and if he was gone then she was doubtlessly worried. "The deathly gray of autumn, before winter began properly."

It was always a poetic time of year to describe. "Hm. So one versus many. If they ache for each other, then Skyhold as a central location for where everyone must be makes sense." Waver tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Good, there's a logic to it at the very least." He hated illogical magic.

"Ah." He nodded, and at this point, Waver was happy to let the subject go. "Well, I'll not dwell on it then. I just wanted to make sure I didn't cause offense or hurt feelings."

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[open] exploration, study, and practice

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